One for the steering rack officiandos.

[Chris01573]

I have dropped the rack off whilst the Stag is on the lift to do the clutch.

I had a fairly hefty leak and was topping up 100ml after every 50 miles. The leak is out of the L/H side of the rack (the end opposite the control valve) and would appear to just be a case of replacing the end seal, however this was a new seal I installed (along with the rest) when I rebuilt the rack a few months back. Since getting the Stag on the road 2 months ago it has pretty much leaked from the start. The seal looks fine and was installed the correct way (open face towards the oil). So I am guessing the seal was not of sufficient quality ?

So my question is who supplies the best seals :-)
IMG_2158.jpg

[sujitroy]

One of the metal pipes on the rack has air in in and not fluid. it's purpose is to prevent the gaiters collapsing when you turn the steering. if one side of the rack leaks its possible fluid from the opposite side travels in this pipe and goes to the other side. Best to change seals on both sides. I have a YouTube video on the rack.

[MandM]

The other seal is in the sleeve in the middle of the rack, I got a seal kit from LD parts and Robsport, I would try changing the seal shown first, others may have other ideas.

you may of nicked it , or as you say maybe a poor quality seal, lots about

[trunt]

One of the metal pipes on the rack has air in in and not fluid. it's purpose is to prevent the gaiters collapsing when you turn the steering. if one side of the rack leaks its possible fluid from the opposite side travels in this pipe and goes to the other side. Best to change seals on both sides. I have a YouTube video on the rack.

Absolutely, it will pass the oil from one side to the other.. the most likely culprit is the control side, best to drain both and check a few times before you take the rack out to really know which side has the issues.

My rebuild tip is to set the adjusting plunger before you fit the pipes, really satisfy yourself that it’s not binding by running it full lock left and right, and don’t touch it again! I’m convinced that my messing with it after installing, (thinking it was causing stiffness) caused excessive rack movement which made the sleve seals fail within a year.. . the third time (!!) I left it well alone and it’s not leaked a drop since.


Finally installed witor bearing strut tops for the stiffness

[trunt]

FWIW, I think the seal kits are only made (put together?) by one company, for many months nobody had stock, then they all had stock at the same time.

[Chris01573]

OK all, bit of an update thanks to all your sage advice I took the boot of the other side which did not appear to be leaking however it had loads of oil in that side. So I suspect the balance pipe was where the oil was going across to the other side. So I am going to now strip down the whole rack and have a good look at the other seal to see if I fitted it incorrectly or nicked it during install.

[sujitroy]

Refer to my video. when you take the rack shaft out, the teeth on it has the possibility of damaging the seal.

[sujitroy]

you can get the individual seals from Martin Robert. the Jensen Inteceptor mk3 uses similar parts

[MikeParker]

As Trunt says, the control side is most likely to leak and this can be because the reaction block is too far back. This block holds the rack against the pinion. As it wears, it allows the rack to move away from the pinion (especially under load) and thus push the rack rod off centre. This will cause a leak past the seal on that side. You need to loosen the lock nut, while holding the central screw still, and then see how much you can turn the screw clockwise (I think it is a normal thread). You will feel when the rack makes contact with the pinion. The screw then needs backing off a few degrees and the lock nut tightening. Does anyone know where there is a more precise description of this process? I renovated my rack several decades and may be 80,000 miles ago and it it still going strong. The seals do seem to last quite well.

[Chris01573]

OK so I have pulled it all apart, when I did the initial refurb I replaced the seals and put the rack back together as it should go with the collar fitted first before the piston ring so I did not have to drag the teeth on the shaft through the seal. TQhe seal looks fine, however looking at your videos Sujitroy you show the seal installed and the nylon ring that sits behind it seems to be loosely sat behind the seal... You also mentioned you can't remove that ring. Mine is easy to remove it just drops out but it seems to sit in a recess at the end. When I fit the seal in there as well it can move back and forth several mm.

I also read this from the Rack rebuild instructions PDF I found.

Seal.png

I assume that means the nylon ring must be up against the back of the seal to stop the movement however the ring would then be floating around as it is smaller outer diameter than the seal... !

Ring 2.jpg
ring 3.jpg
ring 1.jpg
ring 4.jpg

[sujitroy]

how are the edges on that ring? they should be nice and square. u can get new rings separately https://www.martinrobey.com/

[DJT]

http://www.triumphstag.net/start/index.htm

Technical Area => Suspension and Steering

Worth a read.

[MandM]

This was my backing seal from my purchased refurbished rack, I made a replacement for the rack before Sujitroy found that rack parts company

backing seal.jpg

P1080571.jpg

[Chris01573]

OK so some progress. Have taken the shaft and had it polished was all set to reassemble however i use my new borsescope to take a closer look at the actual cylinder walls and found evidence of corrosion where the two orings of the seal carrier would sit in the middle of the cylinder. So I think this is where the problem lies. Had a chat with the local machine shop and they reckoned with honing it could be cleaned up however it would need a few thou taken off to get it back. Not sure this would work, has anyone had a steering cylinder honed before ? IMG_20220506070513.jpg

IMG_20220506070437.jpg

IMG_20220506070443.jpg

IMG_20220506070426.jpg

[sujitroy]

could u get away with an over sized o ring